A new church in Washoe County intends to offer psilocybin mushrooms to practicing members.
Founded by Pam Conboy and Dr. Leah Linder, the Setas Seminary Church of Spiritual Integration is described on its website as a “non-denominational, holistic church intent on elevating whole health and spiritual connection.”
Operating as a church incorporating elements of naturopathic medicine, holistic spirituality and the burgeoning field of psychedelic-assisted therapy, Setas Seminary plans to offer small amounts of psilocybin mushrooms under the protection of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993—a law that, the church claims, allows for the sacramental use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, even though they’re currently under federal and state law.
Conboy and Linder met while working at the same nutritional-supplement manufacturer. Both women describe themselves as coming from a medical background—Conboy as a clinical laboratorian and medical marketer, and Linder as a naturopathic physician and nutritional-supplement formulator.
As part of her naturopathic practice, Linder shared with Conboy that she had patients who were privately experimenting with psilocybin mushrooms to treat stress and trauma. Linder claimed to have seen these patients—using psychedelic-assisted therapy coupled with other care protocols—make tremendous strides in a shorter amount of time compared to similar cases.
“It opened up this whole panacea of like, ‘Oh my gosh, we can actually create really profound change in a much shorter window that is prolonged,’” Linder said. “This is not just a Band-Aid. This is something that is getting at the root cause of why these people are having these physical symptoms that are associated with mental and emotional health.”
Linder’s observations are in line with a growing body of research demonstrating the potential of hallucinogens to “rewire” the brains of people who are suffering from conditions like substance-abuse disorders, treatment-resistant depression, alcoholism and PTSD.
In two decisions in 2018 and 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy” for the treatment of PTSD and depression, allowing for more clinical studies of the compound’s effectiveness. The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued requests for applications of proposals to study the use of psychedelic compounds in treating PTSD in veteran populations—the first time the VA has shown interest in such studies since similar research was abandoned in the 1950s and ’60s.
After witnessing the healing potential of “entheogenic mushrooms” (“entheogenic” describes a psychoactive substance used in a spiritual context), Linder and Conboy both dove into the research behind psychedelic-assisted therapy, and even attended a psychedelic retreat in Mexico this past December to try mushrooms in a controlled environment.
“It was really a big market-research journey for me,” Conboy said. “I came away a true believer.”
Conboy and Linder decided that a church could be a legal vehicle for providing people with the healing effects they had experienced themselves.
Mushrooms as sacrament
Linder is a master gardener and handles the sourcing of the mushrooms and their formulation into pills, which offer only a “microdose”—a dose large enough to encourage neurological activity, yet small enough to prevent users from experiencing visual hallucinations or impaired judgment.
Linder and Conboy declined to say where they get their mushrooms from—just that they are grown in highly controlled lab environments in either California or Nevada. Linder said that all of the mushrooms are tested for potency, toxins, heavy metals and other undesirable elements.
Through donations, practitioners can obtain a 60-day supply of microdosage psilocybin pills and an accompanying blend of organic supplements intended to promote overall health and enhance the mushrooms’ healing effects.
Linder and Conboy stress that the Setas Seminary approach is intended to be holistic, and members are encouraged to participate in supportive lifestyle practices like yoga, meditation, breathwork and fasting to achieve optimal results for their mental and physical well-being.
Legal questions remain
The text of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act states that the “government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.” Broadly applied, as long as the use of psychedelic substances constitutes an authentic expression of religion in an organized setting, the government cannot prevent it unless it can prove it has a “compelling governmental interest” in doing so.
Conboy and Linder said they received legal advice prior to setting up Setas Seminary and were assured that, as long as they were following all the rules of a formally established church, they and their practitioners would be protected from prosecution under the Controlled Substances Act—which currently lists psilocybin mushrooms under Schedule I, meaning the federal government recognizes no therapeutic use for the substance.
“We are very confident that we’re approaching this in the right way,” Conboy said. “We know for damn sure that people are protected under religious freedom, and that we just have to follow all the rules.”
Conboy and Linder have consulted with Sean McAllister, an attorney in Denver, who advertises his expertise in psychedelics law on his website. McAllister declined to comment for this story.
Conboy and Linder are also confident in what they see as a simple truth: No one is looking to prosecute anyone for medicinal uses of hallucinogenic mushrooms. They claim to know first responders and law-enforcement officers who are some of the biggest proponents for psychedelic-assisted therapy.
“I have everybody from Reno PD to the fire department and smoke jumpers to paramedics to ER doctors and nurses,” Linder said. “I have these patients who are actively coming to me to say, ‘I need some help. I have to deal with so much every single day, and I have to be the person that’s on point, and I’ve never been taught how to actually manage that stress.’”
The RN&R’s calls to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office requesting clarification on their stance about the prosecution policies around hallucinogenic mushrooms were unanswered.
The path to legalization
The formation of Setas Seminary comes at a time when the state’s relationship to the clinical and criminal aspects of psilocybin mushrooms are shifting.
In March 2023, lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 242, which initially would have essentially decriminalized the use, cultivation and possession of small amounts of psilocybin mushrooms, and established “procedures for a research facility to obtain approval … to conduct certain studies” related to psilocybin.
SB 242 was eventually scaled back, meaning that mushrooms are still illegal in Nevada, but the bill passed in June with a directive to form a working group to study medicinal use.
“We’re in the process of trying to figure out what the regulatory structure could look like and how to potentially make psychedelic-assisted therapy affordable,” said Kate Cotter, president and executive director of the Sierra Psychedelic Society, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on community building and education around psychedelic medicine. “We’re learning everything that we can from Oregon and Colorado and the cities that decriminalized. For instance, Denver: The Denver report shows that there was no increase in crime or adverse events.”
Cotter said the working group hopes to have a full report ready for legislators during the 2025 session. In the meantime, local advocacy groups continue to lay the groundwork for eventual legalization through community education and outreach to push back against psilocybin’s stigma as a counter-culture street drug—especially with law enforcement.
“When you ask (law enforcement) about, for example, psilocybin, they have the concern that it could be a gateway drug, and they say that without completely understanding the full background of what the medicines can do,” said Jon Dalton, a retired Navy SEAL and president of the Nevada Coalition for Psychedelic Medicines, a sister organization of the Sierra Psychedelic Society. “What may happen is they may roll up a dealer, and that dealer might have meth and fentanyl and coke, and he’ll have some psilocybin. So that gets kind of rolled into the take. … But for the most part, when you talk to law enforcement, they’re like, ‘This is not on our priority (list) of things to go after; we have much, much bigger fish to fry.’”
In their dealings with local government and law enforcement, Cotter and Dalton report experiencing a similar attitude as Linder and Conboy: The anecdotal and clinical research behind psychedelic therapy is compelling enough to warrant serious consideration, as long as it isn’t bringing undue harm to the community.
Cotter and Dalton are clear that neither they nor their organizations are involved with Setas Seminary, and they don’t know enough about the “church model” to speak to its effectiveness and legality. However, Cotter said she is looking forward to learning more about how the church operates.
“If this is within the boundaries of the law, which it sounds like it may be, and there’s the proper setting, and there’s the proper dosage and all these things that are required to make the powerful medicines safe and effective, then having more people understand psychedelic medicine and understand the values of the benefits and the healing properties, I think that’s a good thing,” Dalton said.
On Saturday, March 23, Setas Seminary will host a Spring Equinox Celebration at the Ranch House at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, 1595 N. Sierra St., in Reno. The event is a formal launch for the church and will feature wellness activities such as breathwork and meditation, as well as a silent auction. People can attend one of two two-hour sessions, from 1-3 p.m. or 3-5 p.m.; registration is required, and psilocybin will not be distributed at the event. Learn more at setas.maslowmade.com/events.